Great imponderables

1. When a road is closed, why do They then put roadworks on all the possible alternative routes?

2. Why is it that you can bump yourself really hard, so it really, really hurts, but end up with no bruise whatsoever, so therefore get no sympathy? However, at other times you get a wonderful bruise, despite not remembering what you bumped into, and the bruise not hurting. This is Not Fair.

3. Why is it ten times easier to get 30 3 year olds to settle down to story-telling, than it is to get 30 grown-ups to settle down to story-telling training?

4. Why do I always remember things I want to email/post to LJ/write down/tell someone about when I'm driving or in the shower, but always forget them as soon as I'm sitting down by my computer?

Baldur's Gate

I've just started playing Baldur's Gate 2 again, for the first time in about four years. It's my all-time favourite computer game, and I must have played it through to the end at least 3 or 4 times. I'm playing as a mage this time, and want to try a party that's almost entirely casters. This will be an interesting change, since I usually play a paladin (though I did once play through as a monk - pathetic in the early stages of the game; ridiculously overpowered in the latter half of it. I soloed him through whole battles.)

Everything is coming flooding back - though I do sometimes default to Guild Wars controls, and get surprised when they don't work. The main surprise is how hard parts of the game are. In Guild Wars, you regenerate health all the time, so one minute after a hard fight, you're entirely well again. In BG, which uses D&D rules, I'm having to eke out every healing spell and potion. In GW, there is no limit on how many times you can use the same spell, but in BG I have an altogether too finite supply. In Neverwinter Nights, you can "sleep" in an instant, and heal completely. In BG, you can get interrupted in your sleep, and, besides, 8 hours pass. I like to role-play it enough that I only sleep at night, rather than sleeping every five minutes of game time, just to get my spells back. I'm limping through dungeons with no spells left, and hardly any health.... and I love it!

And the music...! And the words...! It's like revisiting old friends to hear that opening music, to hear the sound effects of levelling up, of clicking on buttons. And all those old, familiar phrases: "Get me out of this hell hole!"... "No-one crosses the shadow thieves and lives." And, of course, the squeak of Boo, the miniature giant space hamster...